AT 2{We must not mistake the wise men here for the shepherds in Luke 2. Also in Luke 2 He is the babe in the manger; here He is the young child in the house. In Luke His parents return with Him to Nazareth in Galilee; here they flee into Egypt.
These wise men had seen a star in the sky. They had been led perhaps by the Jewish Scriptures to know the time the Great King was to be born, and rightly judged that it had taken place. Then they start their long journey to see Him.
As Jerusalem is the City of the Great King, they journey thither expecting every one there to know all about Him. They ask, "Where is the King of the Jews that has been born? for we have seen His star in the east, and have come to do Him homage." Matthew 2:33When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. (Matthew 2:3). Instead of this being good news, it troubled Herod and all Jerusalem with him. He calls the chief priests and scribes together and inquires where the Christ should be born; they tell him at Bethlehem, quoting a part of Mic. 5:2,2But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. (Micah 5:2) leaving out the part that told of His Godhead glory "Whose goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity". They tell the wise men where He was to be born, but they do not care to go and see. With all their knowledge, their hearts were far from God. How sad to see this in such a privileged people! Do we not find the same tendency in ourselves? This is lukewarmness; we need to guard against it.
Herod, the false king conspires to kill Him. This is impossible, but it shows man's enmity to God.
These wise men start for Bethlehem, and now the star they had seen at His birth, re-appears to their joy and leads them to the house where the young child and His mother were. How glad they were! They rejoiced with great joy. These were Gentiles from afar- a foreshadowing of the time when Jesus shall reign and "the Kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts." Psa. 72:1010The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. (Psalm 72:10). And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child and His mother, and fell down, and worshipped Him- they did not worship His mother. Then they opened their treasures and presented unto Him gifts; gold and frankincense, and myrrh. Thus they expressed their joy, and thus too the Lord provided Joseph with necessary means, to keep them while sojourning in Egypt. God could have provided for them in other ways, but He chose this way.
God warned the wise men not to return to Herod, and warned Joseph to flee into Egypt, and this was to fulfill Scripture, that again it might be true, "Out of Egypt have I called My Son." (Hos. 11:11When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt. (Hosea 11:1).) Israel’s history, ruined in the first instance, begins again with the Lord in grace.
Herod's slaughter of the infants is a foreshadowing also of the enemy's attempt to destroy Christ and His people. (See Rev. 12.) There, too, God preserves them from the enemy’s power.
Matthew 2:1919But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, (Matthew 2:19). Again an angel appears to Joseph in a dream in Egypt, commanding him to take the young child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel. Joseph does so, but goes to Galilee and to Nazareth, for he was warned of God in a dream that Herod's son, who was then king, was just like his father. There we see Jesus as the Nazarene, the rejected One, associated with the poorest of the flock, and hiding from the false king with whom the priests and scribes were associated.
Though He was Son of God and Son of David, He was in the despised place, having come in grace among men.